Digging Deep for new eco-centre

Grimsby is going green with a project which could see a centre become a major ecological education centre.

Green Futures is a community business group behind a scheme to turn the Vanson Centre, a former nursery on Bradley Road, into a community-based educational site for sustainable living.

Green Futures hopes to transform the centre into a hub for eco-based learning, as well as selling organic vegetables, fruit and herbs, woodland management and countryside conservation.

The site's facilities will include ornamental gardens, a traditional kitchen garden, an orchard, covered growing spaces, premises for artists and crafts people, a community cafe, gallery and shop.

The plan, called Local Food Solutions, is on a six-month pilot and has the backing from many organisations, including North East Lincolnshire Council, E-Factor and the Change Board, which is responsible for allocating neighbourhood funding.

Work has already begun on the site by firm Agripower to excavate the land and remove top soil.

Green Futures Managing director Andrew Rothery said: "We hope to use the centre as a hub to reach out to the people of Grimsby to grow food locally, improve our environment, create new jobs and enhance everyone's quality of life."

Photo Courtesy of the Grimsby Telegraph